Good News On Ben

[Flasteel]

Re: Good News On Ben

They are right about one thing, it's no longer he-said, she-said IMHO.

Sure it is. He (Ben) said McNulty is a crazy, lying, gold-digger and she (co-worker) said McNulty is a crazy, lying, gold-digger.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Re: Good News On Ben

Ben should counter sue for defamation of character. If he would win, and she were to pay some sum of money, and couldn't pay it, wouldn't she then have to do jail time or something? I think this crazy bitch got in the hole with money and saw Ben as a way out. If you were truly raped by someone, would you seek like 490 thousand dollars from a QB with a 100 million dollar contract or would you go after everything you could get? I mean if this dude held you down and raped you, wouldn't you go after everything?

you would try to get everything i think.she would have ran to the police right away and file a lawsuit. not wait a year and not go to the police at all. its so stupid and it shouldnt even continue. rape is just about as serious of an allegation to make. if a girl is raped why wouldnt she go to the police immediately? ben shouldnt sue, just let it die and go away. he doesnt need any revenge or anything, im sure that wont make him feel any better. the best thing for ben would be to put this behind him

I am just thinking that she needs to be made example of if she is not telling the truth. You can't just accuse someone of raping you to make some money. That is pure evil. I mean I know Mike Tyson is a crazy bastard, but that chic that accused him of raping her had accused someone else of the same thing a year before she accused Tyson. That info wasn't permissable in Tysons case for some reason. The judge that got to hear Tysons case was a former professional rape counselor and a rape prosecutor. It was no coincidence she became the judge of this case either because under Indiana law the prosecutor gets to pick the judge in the case. Tyson got railroaded in that deal. He told that girl to wear loose clothing when she came down to his limo. She knew what was up.

This is the same thing as the Bettis case where that chick accused him of doing some stuff out at camp one year. By the way, Bens current lawyer represented the Bus in that case so he knows what he is doing!

I hope Ben learns a valuable lesson out of this and I hope he comes out clean.

[stlrz d]

Re: Good News On Ben

The affidavit: [url="http://rgj.com/assets/pdf/J714012387.PDF"]http://rgj.com/assets/pdf/J714012387.PDF[/url]

[phillyesq]

Re: Good News On Ben

If she is a current employee of Harrah's, that opens her to at least the appearance of bias.

It says in the PFT article:

The former co-worker is not one of the named defendants in the case, and the former co-worker no longer is employed by Harrah's.

I guess I skimmed too quickly.

Just as the entire complaint seemed dubious to me, there is something about this affidavit that doesn't quite the smell test either.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Good News On Ben

If she is a current employee of Harrah's, that opens her to at least the appearance of bias.

It says in the PFT article:

The former co-worker is not one of the named defendants in the case, and the former co-worker no longer is employed by Harrah's.

I guess I skimmed too quickly.

Just as the entire complaint seemed dubious to me, there is something about this affidavit that doesn't quite the smell test either.

I noticed that some dates didn't match up. She said that approximately 8 months prior to the 2008 golf tournament, McNulty confided to her about her affair with the married man named Fritz. (note: since the golf tournament occurred in July of 2008, 8 months prior to that would have been November of 2007.) Then she said that in the summer of 2007, McNulty informed her that she had a fight with Fritz. That doesn't make sense, because she did not know about the affair during the summer of 2007...she supposedly did not hear about it until November of 2007 or so.

[Jooser]

Re: Good News On Ben

Could just be typos though RB. Still, I think that the battle to ruin the credibility of the accuser has begun, and this affidavit is probably only the first arrow. If the accuser is proven to be the lying person we so believe her to be, then her case is shot.

[feltdizz]

Re: Good News On Ben

while this is good news I agree... until it's over I'm not happy. I remember the Kobe Bryant case and hearing similar reports..

she wasn't acting like she was raped.. I even think they even found another guys DNA in her underwear.. all things that said she may have consented or been a loose girl but still..Kobe settled.

I do think this woman is wacko but until it's over I wouldn't get excited about anything that is revealed that is in Ben's favor...

[anger 82&95]

Re: Good News On Ben

Here's a bit more on the story per PFT (just look over their commentary...)

[url="http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/08/08/big-ben-takes-the-gloves-off/"]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... loves-off/[/url]

Roethlisberger takes the gloves off
Posted by Mike Florio on August 8, 2009 7:37 AM ET

Gregg Rosenthal pointed out on Friday that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has received additional time to formally respond to the civil allegations of sexual assault made against him by an employee of Harrah's hotel and casino in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

As a practical matter, however, Roethlisberger's legal team launched its first assault in the case on Friday. And while Roethlisberger has yet to concede that he had sexual relations with the plaintiff, it is now obvious that one of his primary arguments will be that the plaintiff intentionally has fabricated the notion that any exchange between them was not consensual.

Several readers have forwarded to us the link to an item at ESPN.com regarding an affidavit filed recently in the case. The affidavit (a written, sworn statement) was signed August 7 by a former co-worker of the plaintiff's at Harrah's hotel and casino.

The former co-worker is not one of the named defendants in the case, and the former co-worker no longer is employed by Harrah's.

The account at ESPN.com of the affidavit is fairly tame; the affidavit is characterized as stating that the plaintiff in the lawsuit didn't seem "upset, stressed out or nervous" about her interaction with Roethlisberger, that the plaintiff thought she might be pregnant as a result of her encounter with Roethlisberger, and that the plaintiff spoke after the event of traveling to Pittsburgh to possibly "run into" him.

But the full affidavit, a copy of which we have obtained, goes much, much farther than that.

For starters, the affidavit itself is, by all appearances, gratuitous at this juncture of the case. It was attached to a motion aimed at moving the case from Washoe County, Nevada, where one of the named defendants has a residence, 50 miles away to Douglas County, Nevada, where the plaintiff worked and where the incident allegedly occurred.

The assertions contained in the affidavit simply have no bearing on whether the case should be moved to Douglas County. And so the obvious reality is that the motion was used in part as a vehicle for providing more information to the court of public opinion, which for a high-profile athlete is a courtroom nearly as important as the one in which the case would eventually be tried.

Here's the stuff that caught our attention.

At paragraph 8, the affidavit states that the plaintiff "did not obtain the position through the standard process . . . with which I was familiar." For example, the co-worker claims that the plaintiff got the job without being interviewed for it. (In our view, that's intended to imply that the plaintiff obtained the job through non-traditional means. We'll leave it to the court of public opinion to speculate on what those might be.)

At paragraph 9, the co-worker explains that she served as a mentor to the plaintiff in the position of Casino Host, and that as a result the plaintiff confided in the co-worker regarding her personal life.

At paragraph 10, the co-worker opines that she would not have hired the plaintiff for the position of Casino Host, explaining that she "did not possess the necessary skills or attitude" and that she was not "professional, reliable or organized."

At paragraph 11, the co-worker makes the "Erin Brockovich" allegations against the plaintiff, a not-so-uncommon tactic in cases of this nature. Specifically, the co-worker alleges that the plaintiff "[o]n frequent occasions" was "wearing scantily clad and provocative clothing." (Relevance in a court of law? Little or none. Relevance in a court of public opinion? Significant.)

At paragraph 16, the co-worker says that the plaintiff told the co-worker in July 2008 that the plaintiff had "been with" Roethlisberger. "In observing her demeanor during this conversation," the co-worker alleges, Andrea did not appear to be upset, stressed-out or nervous." The co-worker instead claims that the plaintiff appeared to be "happy and boastful" about the encounter with him. The co-worker states that the plaintiff never indicated she was assaulted, or that the interaction was ever anything other than consensual.

At paragraph 17, the co-worker states that the plaintiff indicated that she thought she might be pregnant by Roethlisberger, and that the plaintiff never later indicated that she actually was.

At paragraph 18, the co-worker discusses the plaintiff's suggestion that she would travel to Pittsburgh to try to "run into" Roethlisberger. In the next paragraph, the co-worker alleges that the plaintiff tried in August 2008 to obtain Roethlisberger's phone number through Harrah's resources. The co-worker says that she declined to assist the plaintiff in this effort.

In paragraph 20, the co-worker states -- for no apparent reason -- that the plaintiff had said she had dated a baseball player who "had a lot of money."

Paragraphs 21 through 27 address the issue of the fictitious soldier, fabricated by the wife of a woman with whom the plaintiff allegedly was involved. The point of these allegations is to demonstrate that any significant mental distress that the plaintiff experienced arose not from the plaintiff's interactions with Roethlisberger, but from the notion that she learned she had "fallen in love" with a man who, as it turned out, did not exist.

The last five paragraphs are, in our regard, the most important, from the standpoint of the looming legal battle.

At paragraph 28, the co-worker claims that, in March 2009, the plaintiff said that she planned to sue Harrah's. The plaintiff allegedly said that the case would be "big news," and the plaintiff allegedly asked "leading questions" like, "Isn't it true that Harrah's mistreated you?"

At paragraph 30, the co-worker explains that she heard about the lawsuit on or about July 21, 2009, while driving home from work and listening to the radio. At paragraph 31, the co-worker says this: "When I heard the radio report, I immediately knew that [the plaintiff] . . . was making these false allegations against Mr. Roethlisberger. I was absolutely shocked because I knew [the plaintiff's] allegation that Ben Roethlisberger raped her was false. Because I knew that [the plaintiff's] lawsuit and false allegations would unfairly and unjustly hurt Mr. Roethlisberger, I wanted to set the record straight."

Wow.

Moving forward, the former co-worker will be a very important witness in the case. What once appeared to be a he said/she said exchange will now potentially be influenced dramatically by the extent to which the former co-worker is a persuasive and credible witness while testifying.

The fact that the former co-worker has reduced so much of her story to writing at this point actually will make it easier for the plaintiff's lawyer to engage in thorough questioning of the co-worker. Indeed, one of the significant lines of examination will undoubtedly be whether and to what extent the co-worker prepared the affidavit herself -- and whether and to what extent it was prepared by the lawyers representing Roethlisberger.

Regardless, the affidavit proves that Roethlisberger plans to fight this thing aggressively. And if the co-worker's affidavit is accurate, Roethlisberger most likely will prevail.

They are right about one thing, it's no longer he-said, she-said IMHO.

I believe a fair translation for “run into him” would be “stalk with extreme prejudice.”

[Vindrow]

Re: Good News On Ben

Heh, PFT worse than the National Enquirer.


This blows a hole in her case big enough to drive a mack truck through.

[kindlecatsb'ng]

Re: Good News On Ben

Read the affadavit: The affidavit: [url="http://rgj.com/assets/pdf/J714012387.PDF"]http://rgj.com/assets/pdf/J714012387.PDF[/url]

Whoever typed/proofread does not know how to spell "Pittsburgh".


GO STEELERS!

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Good News On Ben

Read the affadavit: The affidavit: [url="http://rgj.com/assets/pdf/J714012387.PDF"]http://rgj.com/assets/pdf/J714012387.PDF[/url]

Whoever typed/proofread does not know how to spell "Pittsburgh".


GO STEELERS!

Perhaps the proofreader hailed from Kansas.

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburg,_Kansas[/url]

[stlrz d]

Re: Good News On Ben

Read the affadavit: The affidavit: [url="http://rgj.com/assets/pdf/J714012387.PDF"]http://rgj.com/assets/pdf/J714012387.PDF[/url]

Whoever typed/proofread does not know how to spell "Pittsburgh".


GO STEELERS!

Perhaps the proofreader hailed from Kansas.

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburg,_Kansas[/url]

Or from the San Francisco Bay area. :P

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburg,_California"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburg,_California[/url]

By the way, Roethlisberger is misspelled a few times too. I guess that one is to be expected though, although I would think a legal document would be proof read, yes?

Or is an affidavit composed solely by the person giving it so all misspellings, etc are included?

What say you Pennypacker?

[Jooser]

Re: Good News On Ben

Could first affidavit be tip of iceberg?
Posted by Mike Florio on August 9, 2009 11:46 AM ET
The affidavit submitted Friday by a former co-worker of the woman who is suing Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for sexual assault represents, in our view, an eye-popping initial assault by Roethlisberger's legal team against the lawsuit.

But we've got a feeling there's more to come. A lot more.

The affidavit, which claims not only that the plaintiff bragged about having sex with Roethlisberger but also claims that the allegation of sexual assault was fabricated as part of a premeditated attack on Harrah's and Roethlisberger, could be the first of many pieces of evidence that will systematically demonstrate that the statements made by the plaintiff after her alleged encounter undermine the claims she now is making.

We also believe that Roethlisberger's lawyers fully intend to demonstrate, with excruciating and crushing detail, that there is no merit to the plaintiff's claims.

There's also a chance that Roethlisberger and his lawyers will go even farther than merely defeating the claims, and that eventually the plaintiff and her lawyer will face direct attacks against their interests for pursuing the case in the first place.

So stay tuned. This one could get very interesting. Or, more accurately, more interesting than it already is.

I say, Bring the Rain Ben, Bring the Fugging Rain!

[youtube:3fioz00p]<object width="500" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ynKoZD-sFi4&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&bo rder=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ynKoZD-sFi4&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&bo rder=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"></embed></object>[/youtube:3fioz00p]

[phillyesq]

Re: Good News On Ben

By the way, Roethlisberger is misspelled a few times too. I guess that one is to be expected though, although I would think a legal document would be proof read, yes?

Or is an affidavit composed solely by the person giving it so all misspellings, etc are included?

What say you Pennypacker?

Often, a lawyer will draft an affidavit for the signature of the witness. I've done this myself on a number of occasions. When a lawyer drafts the affidavit, it is spell checked, proofread, etc.

IMO, in order to add an appearance of authenticity to the affidavit, Ben's lawyers asked the woman to draft the affidavit herself. The spelling errors make the affidavit appear as though it was something drafted by the witness herself, and not by her lawyers.

The issue of how much of the affidavit she drafted by herself (as opposed to what was drafted by her lawyers) will likely be a key area of examination during her deposition. The more that is drafted by the lawyers, the more it can be twisted by the Plaintiff's lawyer that her story was fabricated by Ben's lawyers, and not her own words. It wouldn't even surprise me if the lawyers drafted the affidavit and intentionally included the misspellings, just to make it appear more authentic.

[fordfixer]

Re: Good News On Ben

By the way, Roethlisberger is misspelled a few times too. I guess that one is to be expected though, although I would think a legal document would be proof read, yes?

Or is an affidavit composed solely by the person giving it so all misspellings, etc are included?

What say you Pennypacker?

Often, a lawyer will draft an affidavit for the signature of the witness. I've done this myself on a number of occasions. When a lawyer drafts the affidavit, it is spell checked, proofread, etc.

IMO, in order to add an appearance of authenticity to the affidavit, Ben's lawyers asked the woman to draft the affidavit herself. The spelling errors make the affidavit appear as though it was something drafted by the witness herself, and not by her lawyers.

The issue of how much of the affidavit she drafted by herself (as opposed to what was drafted by her lawyers) will likely be a key area of examination during her deposition. The more that is drafted by the lawyers, the more it can be twisted by the Plaintiff's lawyer that her story was fabricated by Ben's lawyers, and not her own words. It wouldn't even surprise me if the lawyers drafted the affidavit and intentionally included the misspellings, just to make it appear more authentic.

Them lawyers is a shady bunch

Thanks for your insight Philly